>
>
> if other folks on this list could comment on what other tools they
> use with ecasound I would be very interested to hear about wav file
> editors, standalone noise filters etc. I built Gmurf but as yet I
> don't understand what it does.

You can start by checking out Dave Phillips excelent site,
and his very nice book (i have a copy myself :>).
Theres also the linux-audio-user mailing list, if you haven;t
checked out allready.

> could more experienced ecasound (and linux digital audio) hackers
> please recommend any good books and/or FAQs which would bring me
> quickly out of the analog realm and into this new world? topics
> I am particularly interested in are quality enhancement, i.e. how

See the documentation section on dave phillip's page,
you'll find stuff like the audio quality howto:

> to make the final mp3 sound good -- how to burn my own audio CD
> using linux -- how to use portable mp3 players -- how to make new
> multitrack recordings using ecasound -- how to mix down multi-wav
> multitracks to stereo master -- MIDI to wav and incorporating MIDI
> tracks into multitrack recordings -- what horsepower (MHz rating)
> CPU is recommended -- and if I decide to use a "real" machine
> instead of a laptop, what sound cards are the most reliable and
> best value for the $$.